A federal judge has declined to block a Missouri law that restricts access to the abortion pill as the case awaits trial.
Restrictions will stay in place requiring doctors and other medical professionals to have a contract with an OB-GYN who has hospital admitting privileges and who agrees to be available if any complications arise, ruled U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips.
Though Phillips wrote in her opinion that the law had “very limited medical benefit,” she concluded the plaintiffs didn’t demonstrate it was a “substantial burden to a large fraction of women seeking a medication abortion.”
Plaintiffs in the case, which include Planned Parenthood affiliates in Kansas City and St. Louis, have been able to abide by the restrictions. Other Planned Parenthood locations in Springfield and Columbia have not been able to comply, so patients who seek the medication have to travel to access it.
Medication abortions tend to occur at home – with the first pill taken in a clinic and the second at home – and are used for up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy. Women also have the option to have a surgical abortion, a procedure that is more common and involves a vacuum to remove fetal remains. Phillips pointed to this option as another reason why she chose to allow the law to stay in place.
The state has argued that its restrictions, which have been in place since October 2017, are necessary to track complications from the abortion pill.
